The Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS) has denied allegations that its officers seized the passport of Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan at the airport on Monday, November 4.
In an interview with Channels TV, the spokesperson for the service, Akinsola Akinlabi, clarified that what occurred was a routine immigration procedure, not a seizure.
“NIS didn’t seize the distinguished senator’s passport, but rather she went through routine immigration checks and was allowed to travel,” Akinlabi said.
He further explained that officers were simply carrying out their statutory duties.
“The NIS officers needed to conduct their checks. They may take your passport to do so, but that doesn’t mean it was seized as alleged. She has since been allowed to travel. Perhaps while waiting for the checks to be completed, she assumed she was being stopped from travelling,” he stated.
Akinlabi also noted that Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan had already travelled by the time the video she made during the process went viral.
“She has travelled since then. The video was made while she was going through the checks, not after. The passport was never seized,” he added.
When asked whether Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan resisted handing over her passport for inspection, Akinlabi said he could not confirm that detail.
“I don’t know about that, but the officers conducting the checks are authorised to collect passports for verification and must return them once done, which they did,” he said.
